Training Log Archive: jennycas

15 of the short grass intervals near the playground, trying not to trip over bark when going uphill. Range 25-27 sec.

Trotted over to the adventure playground, stretched a bit before intervals in new shoes. Not the newest Asics; I managed to find an older model available on line, hoping they'd pull inwards on my knees less than the 2170s do. But it seems I had forgotten that the 2160s may have been the cause of my hamstring troubles. Also, the promised free socks didn't eventuate :(

Redwoods & back, with a big crowd: F&T, Simon, Greg, John, Andrew, Kate, Zara/Callum (many of whom I had lured out with the promise of going to the Belair hotel for dinner afterwards). Legs pretty stiff after intervals so I took it easy with some doubling back for Kate, on her longest run since before baby Henry!

Company at the pub was good (George even came) but the food a bit hit & miss, especially given the price.

Head cold sounds bad enough now to evoke sympathy and still feels bad enough to actually warrant it. It's rare for the two to coincide.

C • Poor Jenny! 6

Nice damp autumn morning smell. Must be time for a trip to Victoria for the purposes of orienteering :)

No point in pushing it so did a run around to the top of First falls and then the bottom of First falls, with Kate & Fern.

Hawthorndene with F&T, B&S. Tyson was being chased by zombies in his head(phones). I lagged behind but it was good to get out for some fresh air. Sore throat (and sore head where I head-banged the wall when I got so frustrated that I cracked a minor tantrum at work - oops. Definitely good that I can soon move on to a less chaotic/intense ward where I will actually be able to remember what day it is. Not coping with the 1-in-3 on-take very well just now).

Figured that the cloud was going to take a while to lift this morning so it wouldn't be too hot for a long ride.

Up the expressway bike path (sweat dripping off my nose) to Reynella where I decided that the gradual descent of taking the rail trail in the southerly direction would be better than gradually ascending it later. Only took 20 min to get from there to the bottom end where it meets the expressway just before the Onkaparinga River, but took a lot longer to get back to Reynella - there were a few ups and downs on the expressway bike path of course, but it was more the detours because of the duplication works which took the time, especially cruising the back blocks of Christie Downs trying to work out the detour signs. Back at Reynella I knew the bike path towards the coast was closed under the expressway; you have to go up to Lander Rd, down it to the valley under the expressway then UP the hill to the west. This one was a bastard but the last one of the day and I did it in the big ring still.

Drink/snack/sunscreen stop when I had to walk my bike across the station overpass at Hallet Cove. Sun coming out now so I was glad of a frozen-peaches stop at parents' half an hour later before the final boredom of Daws Rd. Might be the longest ride I've done.

C • big ring 1

Along the creek to loosen knees before a morning of lecturing. Knee didn't like standing for that long, and neither did ITB. Something sciatic in my hip too.

Knees were pretty tender, probably because of a few days in a row on trails. Would have run around the sprint course at Karinya but I had set it (although I had to get the others to put out controls because I was still at work). Did overhear some positive feedback :)

Tired, but the water was lovely, and I briefly felt relaxed afterwards - until as I was leaving the pool I caused a guy to fall off his bike, purely by the power of thought (or maybe by my amazing appearance wrapped in an oversized beach towel?). He cornered too sharply coming in to the footbridge when he saw me crossing it, and just as I thought "he's going a bit fast" his wheel spun out on the dirt and he went over the handlebars, landing at my feet! No blood but a bit of ego-bruising, I'd think. And a big guilt trip on my part for having the temerity to coexist in his space...

Trainline-steps loop (and we just dodged a train) with F&T, B&S, Zara/Callum, Aiden. Legs weary but not painful. Smoke hanging in the air.

3-Hills loop. Not as sprightly this morning, presumably due to combination of: only having a sandwich for dinner while in meeting, effects of physio, effects of blustery easterly headwind (which had brought lots of smoke with it). Knees did not like the downhills, which are an unfortunate by-product of doing a run which has uphills in it.

Attack of the Killer Physio
Lots of needles and massaging of shins & calves. I knew my bad shin had been getting twitchy lately but had somehow ignored how tight my calves were. I blame Sunday's running in terrain.

After physio and before OSA meeting. Lots of orienteers out tonight which was nice. Legs felt okay - definitely getting stronger on hills - and surprisingly weren't too hammered from physio but in hindsight that may have been because the Deep Heat hadn't worn off yet.

Nobody felt like running tonight - I did walk around and tape my control sites at Karinya/Blackwood High but left it rather too late and was glad I took a headlamp. Not the sort of place you feel totally comfortable walking around alone although the guys at the skate ramp are probably harmless enough. Got home and it was still 30 degrees in the kitchen, as it has been for the past 2 days. We need a new house, or at least new insulation!

Went early to Kuitpo training and ran around with a map from a previous (probably score the day after night champs) event and inadvertently found a few controls. I was pretty hot when I finished and glad that the sprinklers (under which I then stood) were still going on the lawn at the forest headquarters. Next up I did the corridor course with the hope of improving my bearings. One of the legs was exactly the same as that which I had just run! Fitness generally okay although not good at lifting my legs over stuff. Pine forest reminded me of NZ although there was a distinct lack of intricate sand dunes. I started thinking that if now presented with the NZ races I wouldn't wuss out of the long days, but towards the end today could definitely feel that my knees weren't loving the impact, and so still think 80-90 min is about my upper limit.

Rode up to Belair with the intention of blackberrying without paying the park entry fee. Am so out of practice on hills that I had to stop a couple of times going up Shepherds Hill Rd but had warmed up (although the day wasn't too hot yet) by the time I got to the park and so went up Queen Jubilee Drive after a muesli bar stop - during which time half a dozen middle aged men passed me. I passed 3 of them again on the way up (24 min) then while the rest waited for their mates at the top I went wheee down Saddle Hill Rd (6 min, although I was riding my back brake A LOT) and by the time they passed me again I was deep in a blackberry thicket at the far end of Long Gully.

An hour and 3 litres of berries later I rode back through the park and up to Belair station where George met me for lunch at the Sheoak cafe and then we went to see grandfather (you can fit 3 people, a bike, and a walking frame in my car).

Jogged around John's sprint course at Magill campus (UniSA), impressed at how he'd got the distance out of an area 500m x 400m (with a map turnover). It was warm and I was weary and didn't have the best shoes for creekstone gripping. The security guards came and had a long chat with Tyson & Simon who convinced them that Arrows had definitely asked for permission to hold the event, even if the permission-granting never actually appears to have happened!

Redwoods plod with Zara/Callum, Fern, Simon, Aiden. I was shattered and wouldn't have gone that far by myself. But felt better than this morning when after passing out on the bathroom floor with cramps (hasn't happened for a couple of years...) I called it on not going to work. Surfaced midafternoon with enough energy to sketch out (literally; I traced the roads from the CFS map book then Google-earthed the coordinates of the boundaries) the area north of Burra where we want to set the rogaine, so the day wasn't wasted.

Shepherds Hill, Eden Hills, Blackwood, Belair, down Gloucester. Haven't done this since last June and was only 10 sec slower, so that's good. Drink and stretch at Blackwood just as the sun peeped over the horizon but after that my knee got quite bad with the ups and downs on pavement through to Belair triangle and I had to stop and stretch/massage knee/ITB partway down Gloucester. A bit sad that I used to think "home free" once I was at the top of Gloucester - and now it's painful with every step of the descent. Finished off strongly once it flattened out at the bottom, but I am spooked that a long run can go from fine halfway through to barely being able to walk after a few downhills. I realise that my rogaining days are over; not really sure that I should be attempting even the 4-hour rogaine next month, as it's at Black Hill.

C • :( 2

A meeting at FMC in the afternoon meant it was logical to run around the uni again, but I was very tired and had a headache despite coffee and was excited to find $2 lurking in my bag and raid the vending machine for some chips, then disappointed to find that their sodium content was only equivalent to 1/3 of one salt tablet! Anyway, am fairly happy with the men's course now as I did a similar time for a similar distance to the Adelaide uni course on Friday night, which took Simon 16 min. Still need to shave 5% off the women's course though. Given how much time I've spent there lately, it's a good thing I like Flinders Uni (not only because I snuck up there on Thursday afternoons in first year to spend time with a nice boy; don't think my mum ever realised that I wasn't still safely at UniSA in the city then!). Definitely my favourite campus map out of everywhere I've run sprints, and the NOL experience will be enhanced by the ocean views from the assembly courtyard.

My mind wandered all over the place and so did my arms, so it wasn't very efficient. I was tired and the water was soft & pillowy...

Run with Fern, up Olave Hill and back Long Gully. Nice morning and company but I was glad not to be running any more big hills than the first one.

Went down to Goolwa to ride Kay's really fun score event which started on the lakeside south of town and took in most of the suburbs - plus Hindmarsh Island if you were feeling brave or foolish, which I wasn't. Actually, I take that back - I was very foolish because I didn't realise there were control descriptions; had folded them under on my map board. And so when I got to where the mystery control 'K' was, I knew that it was at Kay's dad's house, but couldn't see a control in the front garden and didn't realise that I had to go around the back :( So I didn't get the points for that one.

But I got all the others on the 1:10 000 map fairly easily - even rode some (very gentle) singletrack for the first time ever - and then turned over to the larger area of the town tourist map, and without descriptions, struggled quite a lot in the control circles. I rode into the horse yards and did a puzzled lap of the stables and then a guy there said "I think you're looking for the wetlands next door".Apparently I wasn't the only one! And I did 2 laps of the BMX track looking for the control which was exactly on the opposite side of the tree which I rode within 5m of, twice...so I lost about 10 min all up and ran out of time to get a couple more controls on the north side of Goolwa and headed back along the lakefront. The one at the houseboat marina really stumped me, and in turning over my map from the large area to the 1:10 000 area for the last couple of controls, I finally discovered the descriptions - and that the control was actually on a houseboat!

Had less than 10 min to spare from there but hurried along the lakefront into a headwind and got in with 2 min up my sleeve. Kay laughed at me for not finding her beautifully detailed descriptions (I should have realised that this was more like a rogaine than an MTBO event) and then told me where I had to pick up the controls that I was about to put out in Victor Harbor. Yep, from her dad's house! I put out a dozen controls (by car, thinking I was glad not to be riding up some of those hills) in the Encounter Bay/Bluff side of Victor and when I got home after 10pm, having had dinner with Kay before driving home, George looked at the map and showed me the site where he had broken his leg a couple of years ago.

C • Sounds lots if fun 1

Pretty tired 'cos I finished working on my sprint courses after 1am. But I'm happy with them now.

Swimming carnival happening today so by the time I finished there were lots of marquees up and I was the only one in the pool. Also schoolgirls in the changerooms spraypainting their hair green. I assume they were spectators not competitors!

Went for a run around the long course (courtesy of Tyson & Fern) after the frenzy on the start had died down. Couldn't get anywhere near Steve 'local knowledge' Cooper's time of 20 min but did feel that I'm running a little faster than I have done since at least August. Nothing hurt but that could be because the Panadol I had taken for my evil jaw (stiff neck/wisdom tooth) had kicked in. Lost about 1 min on overrunning an alleyway which looked impassable to me but apparently it zigzagged. Karma for complaining came in the form of having to pick up and lug back two 3kg blocks of wood (control stands) when control collecting!

Thought I did well to make it across town from a meeting at TQEH @Woodville to Belair in 45 minutes. And it was a run worth going up the hill for - nice evening to do the lake-trainline-steps loop with B&S, F&T, Steve & Aiden, Greg, Zara/Callum. Felt a bit more energetic than usual, maybe because I'm slowly ticking off all the things I need to do for work and orienteering, although I'll need the weekend of not going to Bendigo to do some reports and lecture writing.

Also very proud of myself yesterday; when I had been worrying about a meeting in the city and where to park/how much it would cost, I had the brainwave realisation that I could get there and back on the same 2-hour bus ticket. Don't know when I last caught a bus in Adelaide...it's hardly got the same novelty value as a Melbourne tram or Auckland ferry :) Glad I don't work in the city though, there are smokers everywhere!

Ran around 2 different versions of my women's course. The one which is 100m longer on paper (straight line) is 2 min shorter in time because it has a lesser proportion of controls which involve going around 3 sides of a square (or something similar). So now I need to apportion the short-but-complex legs more evenly between courses.

I do think that all this running around buildings and up & down stairs is making my legs a wee bit stronger and less slow, so that's a bonus. Especially as I accidentally missed the (already rescheduled) surgeon's appointment on Monday - had expected them to send a reminder as my physio & hairdresser do.

Felt a bit better than on Sat but that might be because once I finally got back to sleep after George left for Keith at 4am I somehow managed to sleep until 8 this morning - oops.

Hawthorndene & Glenalta with B&S & Fern. It was such a golden evening that I went down through the pine forest and came back up Turners, by which time the blisters under my arches from yesterday were making their presence felt. Starting to think (as are we all) that the BendiGo ToDay weekend may have to go in the too hard basket because there's too much to be done for events at home.

Ran around a combination of the 'best bits' of my men's and women's courses. Would make a great course in terms of route choice but take rather too long. A bit more tweaking to do yet...it's getting a bit ridiculous simultaneously trying to coordinate setting two sprints and work out when I will get to Burra to set the rogaine and Broken Hill to control the state champs. No wonder I have been having very weird dreams lately and waking up with a 'hangover' although last night it was from not rehydrating enough after running yesterday.

C • rd trip 3

Trotted across to Mitcham to meet the others (B&S, F&T, James, Mel, Liv, Will) and then we went up Randell's (playing Simon says - turns out you can get up the hill from the private road off Weemala), into the park a bit, down Pony Ridge (my knee was quite unhappy by the bottom of the switchbacks) and along the creekside singletracks of course. A few doublings back for the junior girls who hadn't run that far before. Stretched at the park then I ran home. Kept expecting my legs to die and they didn't; the process of finishing breakfast precisely one minute before running out the door may be anathema to some people but it works for me.

A good solid run (admittedly plenty of stops), my longest non-rogaining run since Two Bays Jan 2012 although it wasn't even 20% of Cradle Mtn. Would like to know what time Rob Walter won that in yesterday!

C • 7.56 is your answer 11

Pretty fatigued, but still a reasonable time.

Really fatigued. Ran around my sprint courses for the Karinya SSS event on the 22nd, noting some fencing/building works in Blackwood High. Don't know why my legs and back are so tight currently; knees were unimpressed too. It seems I need to take antiinflammatories even to make training worthwhile?

Had intended to get to street O but farewell drinks at work for a colleague meant there was no chance of getting across to Paradise by 7pm. Thought about riding instead when I got home but left it until the morning.